Newswise — Africa and the Middle East are full of small and mid-sized businesses looking for executive education programs to help them grow, and a new service from the Tippie College of Business’ Institute for International Business will help them.
The initiative is the first step as the IIB expands to become Tippie’s international engagement arm, in partnership with the university’s John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (Iowa JPEC). Dimy Doresca, director of the IIB, said that among the institute’s new roles will be to help expand connections between Iowa businesses and global markets, and provide University of Iowa students with global learning and career opportunities.
“The continued collaboration with Iowa JPEC will provide strong support to Iowa companies in their global engagement,” said Doresca. “In addition, with this collaboration, IIB will continue serving entrepreneurs in developing countries and frontier markets.”
The first step in this broader mission is a new service that provides executive education classes to small and mid-sized business owners, mid-career professionals, and government employees in sub-Saharan African and Middle Eastern countries. Doresca said there’s a need for such programs targeting small and mid-sized businesses.
“This is for companies that want to grow and build the talent level of their mid-career managers,” said Doresca. “We’ll provide our expertise and best practices to these companies and their managers, with focuses on the programs where we excel, such as leadership change, innovation, data analytics.”
In addition, the program can connect those business leaders with business leaders in Iowa, increasing the state’s economic development potential with African and Middle Eastern countries.
The program will be supported by the Tippie Leadership Collaborative (TLC), the college’s executive education hub for businesses and non-profit organizations. Stephen Courtright, professor of management & entrepreneurship and TLC director, says the classes will use science- and evidence-based teaching to help businesses develop their management talent.
The programs will be short-term, non-degree offerings of a few weeks or months. The academic content will be crafted to suit client needs.
“We have some of the world’s most talented management faculty right here at Tippie, and with this program we can bring that talent to Africa and the Middle East and make an even stronger global impact,” said Courtright.
The college has a significant presence in Africa already. It has relationships with several universities on the continent, as well as 149 alumni living in 37 countries who participated in the U.S. State Department’s Young African Leadership Initiative Mandela Fellowship Program hosted annually at the University of Iowa. International entrepreneurial education initiatives offered with its Iowa JPEC partners include over 140 companies in Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean countries, and 367 total entrepreneurs in developing and emerging markets. Doresca said those alumni can be a foundation to build client relationships with businesses on the continent.
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